You can have five professions on one character in World of Warcraft: Forever: two primary professions and all three secondary ones. Blizzard’s New Player’s Starter Guide puts it this way: “Each character can learn two primary professions and all three secondary professions.”
So the real decision is which two primaries to take out of nine. Below we cover what counts as what, the three ways to split your two picks, how Legacy Points change the choice, and what happens when you want a third. Everything is checked against Blizzard’s posts as of November 8, four days after launch.
Which Professions Use a Slot
| Type | Professions | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Primary, gathering | Herbalism, Mining, Skinning | Two primary in total, in any mix |
| Primary, crafting | Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Engineering, Leatherworking, Tailoring | Shares the same two slots |
| Secondary | Cooking, Fishing, First Aid | All three, no slot needed |
Gathering and crafting draw from the same two slots, so you can take two crafts, two gathering professions, or one of each. Class-specific tradeskills such as Lockpicking are not among the nine primaries, so they do not use a slot either.
You learn each one from a trainer in a starting area or major city, and K opens the Professions window, where you can see your skill, recipes, and materials.
Three Ways to Split Your Two Primaries
One gathering, one crafting. The usual pick, because you supply your own materials: Skinning with Leatherworking, Mining with Blacksmithing or Engineering, Herbalism with Alchemy. Tailoring is the exception, since cloth drops from enemies and needs no gathering partner. Our best professions for each class guide matches these to your armor and role.
Two gathering. The gold route. You sell what you collect, and you never have to buy materials. Our best professions for gold guide compares them. The catch is that gathering pays no Legacy Points, so this mix earns nothing toward the challenges below.
Two crafting. The Legacy Point route. Each crafting profession pays a point at 150, 225, and 300 skill, so two of them are worth up to 6 points on one character. You will buy or farm your materials the hard way, and it costs more gold along the way.
Secondary Professions Never Cost a Slot
Blizzard says “Cooking prepares food, Fishing catches useful ingredients, and First Aid creates survival supplies.” Since they take no primary slot, there is no reason to skip them on a character you plan to keep. Our guides to Cooking, Fishing, and First Aid show how to start each one. They pay no Legacy Points.
How Legacy Points Change the Choice
Blizzard’s Legacy system overview pays a point for reaching 150, 225, and 300 skill in each of the six crafting professions, 18 points across the account. Each challenge pays once per account, so a second character only earns more by leveling a different craft. Herbalism, Mining, Skinning, Cooking, Fishing, and First Aid are not on the list.
That gives you a reason to spread crafts across characters rather than repeat them. It is also why our Legacy Points guide calls a gathering profession a real candidate to drop at level 60. The Professions tree also has perks that speed all this up, and our best Legacy talents guide has a full crafter build.
Two Professions Do Not Mean Two Camp Features
Professions also let you add features to a camp. Blizzard’s campfire post says a Basic Campfire can support up to three crafted objects from nearby players, “with each player able to add one.” So a character with two crafts can bring either feature, but not both to the same fire. Features start at skill 20, and our camping guide lists what each one does.
Changing a Profession
Open the Professions window with K and click the X next to the profession you want to remove, then learn the new one from a trainer. Our guide to unlearning professions has the full steps. Before you click:
- Plan as if the skill is gone. Blizzard’s instructions do not say whether skill or recipes survive unlearning, so assume you start the new one at skill 1 and would start again if you came back.
- Finish any quest tied to it first. Blizzard’s November 6 hotfixes say the quest “Rough Wolf Pelts” now cancels automatically if you unlearn Skinning.
If You Want More Than Five
There is no way to add a slot on one character, so the answer is an alt. Every character on your account gets its own two primaries and three secondaries. Blizzard says characters can group, join guilds, and run dungeons only with players on the same ruleset and faction, so put a crafting alt on the same side as your main if you want them helping each other. Our ruleset guide and Alliance and Horde guide explain those limits.
If you are starting a crafter today, our guides to Leatherworking, Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Enchanting, Engineering, and Alchemy lay out each route. Everything else is on our World of Warcraft hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many professions can you have in WoW Forever? Five on one character: two primary and all three secondary.
Can you have two gathering professions? Yes. Gathering and crafting share the same two primary slots, so any mix works.
Can you learn more than two primary professions? Not on one character. You have to unlearn one first, or use an alt.
Do Cooking, Fishing, and First Aid count toward the limit? No. They are secondary professions, and every character can have all three.
Does Lockpicking use a profession slot? No. Blizzard calls it a class-specific tradeskill, and it is not one of the nine primary professions.
Do alts get their own professions? Yes. Each character has its own slots, and Legacy Points for crafting are shared across the account.